This professional is going the agent route with no equipment except for this part

Ben Griffin won’t call himself a hardware nerd, and he doesn’t like to tinker with his setup, but he does like to test.

“I’m friends with a lot of the reps here on Tour, and I love going into the trucks and talking to them and learning about their new equipment,” Griffin told GOLF earlier this month. “I’m more open than other players to just pitch products to different companies, maybe give them feedback or whatever. So I’m more open that way.

“I’m not necessarily trying to change anything, but I’m just testing for fun,” he continued. “Just to see what’s out there. And if something is significantly better, I’m not afraid to make that change.”

That’s what he was doing on Monday at the WM Phoenix Open this year, testing Ping’s new G440 K driver with different axles, seeing if anything could beat his player. By the end of that session, despite looking like he had new 440 K groovedhe seemed keen to keep his old G430 Max 10K in the bag. That club led him to the best season of his career in 2025, winning his first three PGA Tour titles.

Three days later, on Thursday, he reversed course and the new 440K was in the bag.

That’s the freedom Griffin has now, as a free agent, after his previous contracts with Mizuno and UST Mamiya expired at the end of last season. The 11th player in the world can play for any club he wants this year.

But there is one spot in the bag where Griffin is locked in, and it’s the piece of equipment he believes is the most important in the game: his golf ball.

Earlier this season, Griffin signed a three-year extension with Maxfli, now part of Dick’s Sporting Goods, as the sole golf ball company endorser on the PGA Tour.

“It’s the one product I believe in the most,” Griffin said. “Ever since I started using the Maxfli product, it’s just been a super natural fit. It’s also kind of been part of my brand here on Tour. Everyone refers to me as a guy who plays a Maxfli.”

Griffin just started to consider using a Maxfli golf ball two years ago when saw Lexi Thompson becomes LPGA’s only Maxfli endorser in 2024. He signed with the company later that spring.

Since then, he has gradually risen from a young touring pro who briefly gave up competitive play and went into the mortgage business to a member of the US Ryder Cup team and one of the best on the PGA Tour.

One could assume that Griffin, then a second-year PGA Tour pro when he signed with the company, was only in it for the money. But he said the decision was based on both the ball’s performance and how the brand aligned with his values.

“I’m not just trying to hook up with this person because they’re paying me X amount or trying to sell me a spot on my bag because I opened it,” he said. “I want to partner with companies I trust and companies I can relate to and use their products, and Maxfli was a perfect fit for that.

“It’s funny, when you first start out on tour, you’re almost looking for sponsors. Now I’m at the point where I have a lot of options in front of me, and it’s not about money.”

In some ways, Maxfli’s story of returning to professional golf through him, Thompson and PGA Tour Champions player Fred Funk, chronicles Griffin’s comeback story before earning his PGA Tour card on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2022.

This is not lost on him.

“It’s a really good product that got a little lost in time with the way the economy worked with the company dating back to the 1990s,” he said. “Now with what Dick’s is doing, they’re really trying to make a push and a comeback, and that resonates very well with me and my story of getting back into professional golf.”

Partnering with Maxfli rather than a brand with an entire line of clubs allows him the freedom and flexibility he wouldn’t otherwise have if he were contracted to 8, 10 or 14 clubs.

“I have six categories I’m thinking about (drivers, fairway woods, irons, wedges, putters and golf balls) and I believe in the Maxfli ball the most out of any product, so I’ve already got it locked in,” he said. “That will never change.”

It also allowed him to create a ball that suited his specific needs, which the company did with a new Maxfli Tour X-LS golf ball. The new model retains the same feel and top speed that Griffin loves The X tournamentbut it lowers the spin at the top of the bag, giving Griffin the freedom to swing and not worry about spinning out of control.

If a golf ball is the most important part of the bag, Griffin’s does exactly what he wants it to do and, from there, he can choose the 14 clubs that complement him best.

Maxfli Tour X Golf Balls

Best for players looking for more spin and speed with a higher launch, from every club in their bag.

His bag this season remains largely unchanged, and what he has changed, he simply describes as updating with a newer model, as he did with his driver. He still has the TaylorMade Qi10 fairway woods and he’s still playing Mizuno Pro S-3 Cuffalthough his 3 and 4 irons are the youngest and more forgiving M-13the latest additions for this season. He finally got away from a Scotty Cameron player on a TaylorMade Spider at the end of last season, but he won with that one, too.